Evan Agostini/AP
Louie Anderson at FX Networks’ annual all-star party in New York in March.
Thursday, May 24, 2018 | 2 a.m.
With new stand-up comedy special “Big Underwear” out on Fandango and his fourth book “Hey Mom” flying off the shelves, Louie Anderson is finding time to return to the Las Vegas stage this weekend with three shows at the South Point.
He’s in demand all across the country these days, thanks in part to his Emmy Award-winning performance as the oddball mom on the FX comedy series “Baskets,” also starring Zach Galifianakis. Anderson based the character of Christine Baskets on his own mother and he writes about that process and performance in “Hey Mom.” I checked in with the Vegas comedy fixture to talk about all this stuff.
It’s been a little while since you’ve done stand-up in Vegas. Has the exposure from “Baskets” radically altered your stand-up life? And have you considered any sort of new Vegas residency? I have a few offers to do a residency here, I’ve just been too busy to really do that kind of show because you have to work hard to make that work. If you’re gonna have a residency, you can’t just lay down. People make their plans when they come to Vegas, they know where they’re going, so you need a good solid month or two to let people know you’re gonna do that. The producers do all that but as the entertainer, you have to back it up, to go out there and do all the stuff. I toy with it. Some days I feel like I should, some days I feel like I shouldn’t. I like to work and that’s my biggest asset and downfall at the same time. But it’s really nice to be back in town. I’m going to shoot these shows at the South Point because I have some material I’ve wanted to capture all about Vegas, just a bunch of jokes I’d like to get on tape, so I’m excited about that.
And you’ve got the new special out, too, “Big Underwear.” Yeah. I feel like a kid again, working in stand-up. It’s a great feeling, like I’ve been called out of the bullpen. It’s full blast and I’m excited.
Is there material about “Baskets” in your set? I talk a lot about “Baskets" at the end of the show, give some tidbits you normally wouldn’t get and how it went down. It’s a great feeling but hard to describe, but there’s something that happens to me when I get dressed up as Christine. I can’t quite explain it. It’s like I’ve created a real person. It had a lot to do with the people I work with but also my relationship with my mom. This character has a backstory and a life and it’s a joyful thing playing her. She’s so kooky, maybe what I would be like if I were a woman.
It sounds like you have a strong emotional connection to this character. We talk about the backstory all the time in the writers’ room and we meld it with things I remember from when I was a kid. Between my sisters and brothers and mom and dad, I have a lot of great paints to paint with. But I also try to portray her as a real human being. And we have a great director Jonathan Krisel who tells me when it’s too big or too small and has guided me through the whole thing.
Was writing “Hey Mom” a different experience than your other books? I wrote it as this long letter to my mom and that was almost a book in itself, or at least it felt like it. Then people read it and thought it would make a beautiful book. It was the most enjoyable one because I was talking to someone I dearly loved and also telling her about what happened since she left this earth. “Hey, I’m playing you on TV.” It’s also an older man asking his mom who brought him into this world what the hell she was thinking in certain situations. But I think it’s some of the best work I ever did.
Louie Anderson performs at 7:30 p.m. May 25-27 at the South Point Showroom (9777 Las Vegas Blvd. South, 702-796-7111) and more information can be found at southpointcasino.com.
